these tax cuts were enacted by george w. bush in 2001. still a bad idea then, i believe. at any rate, we had a surplus. it was sold to the american people because we have a surplus, we ought to give money back. we'll have the tax cuts across the board which benefitted mostly the wealthiest of americans. we knew that at the time. they were adopted as a temporary measure. what part of temporary doesn't john boehner understand? what part of temporary don't these republicans understand, right? i mean what is it about suddenly suddenly, it's become gospel. it is sacrosanct that you can never raise tax on the richest of americans. the very ones i'm one of them, who ought to be paying more in taxes. it is just insane! so they were attempted as a temporary measure and they're going to expire in ten years. why in ten years? because everybody knew in ten years things might change. we might no longer have a surplus and we might need the money. that's exactly what the case is today. president obama extended them for two years. i wish he hadn't but he did. why? because it was the pric